2020 Hindsight

hamsameditation.com

This New Year's Eve, we pause to grieve
before we look ahead.
The year gone by (I cannot lie)
was marked by death and dread.

First Kobe died and then we cried
because George couldn't breathe.
We held our breath with hopes his death
would not be disbelieved.

Black Lives replied and then decried
injustice masked too long.
Protests took shape and so did hate
with wrong replacing wrong.

And COVID spread as Fauci led
the charge to stem the tide.
He gave us tasks and we wore masks
but sadly countless died.

Hurricanes would be the blame
for costly devastation.
And fires raged largely uncaged.
A hellish conflagration.

The virus leapt while widows wept
and closed our schools and churches.
We worked from home and used our phones
to order what we purchased.

As jobs were lost, the COVID cost
kept mounting without peaking.
The lines for food and work pursued
drove desperate souls to drinking.

The White House race proved a disgrace.
Our country was divided.
We bled and bled both blue and red.
Our unity was blighted.

It's been some year. Both hope and fear
have occupied our hearts.
The vaccine gift gave us a lift
just as a new year starts.

May '21 before it's done
be filled with joy, dear Lord.
May lives be spared and homes repaired
and needed jobs restored.

May faith grow strong, so too the song
that praises God for blessings.
And may it be the year to see
our grateful hearts expressing
a love of life, disdain for strife
and dreams for which we're longing.
A world where health and honest wealth
finds everyone belonging.